Sports
Hockey

99ers win midget A title

Brian Smiley/The Expositor
Brantford 99ers player Liam Twinem goes in on the Ancaster Avalanche goal on Saturday during the final in the minor midget A division at the 48th annual Wayne Gretzky International Hockey Tournament.

The Brantford Minor Hockey Association's minor midget A team finished their Wayne Gretzky International Tournament experience with a bang.

Playing in their final one - the tournament only goes to minor midget A - the team of 99ers born in 2002 defeated Ancaster Avalanche 5-2 on Saturday at the Walter Gretzky Sports Centre to claim the championship at the 48th annual event.

"They were pretty pumped," coach Jason Kellam said.

"It kind of took a little while to sink in for me. It kind of felt like a war out there and we didn't really start out that great.

"It was definitely rewarding."

The 99ers certainly had a tournament to remember.

Brantford finished preliminary play with a 3-0 record and then beat St. Catharines Falcons 6-0 in the semifinals. That set up a championship game showdown with Ancaster, which was 2-1 in pool play including a 1-0 loss to Brantford.

In the final, it was the Avalanche who struck first, scoring just 44 seconds into the first period when Conner Pavao found the back of the net.

"I knew they would rebound well because they're very good at that," Kellam said of his team. "There's no quit in these guys. They don't like to lose."

It took the 99ers just over four minutes to respond as Nathan DaSilva scored to even the game at 1-1.

After he made some fine saves to keep the score knotted, goalie Christian Laracy watched from his goal as Ben Mason scored twice to give the home team a 3-1 advantage.

With time winding down in the middle period, Ancaster got to within one.

And to start the third period, the 99ers had to kill a five-on-three.

"That was huge," Kellam said of his team's successful kill. "If they had of scored, the momentum probably would have shifted over."

Instead, it was Brantford's Luca Malatesta who scored on the power play midway through the third to make it 4-2.

But Brantford was taking nothing for granted.

"I was thinking anything can happen," Kellam said. "We knew if they got under our skin and we took a stupid penalty, it could turn.

"We felt it was still up for grabs."

When Kye Martin scored an empty netter with 25 seconds to play though, the game was over.

On the goals, Sean McMillan got two assists and Connor MacPhee got one.

The tournament win adds to a season that is going well for the minor midget team. The 99ers have won three of four tournaments, they were 26-12-4 going into the Gretzky and they made the AA loop in their league.

Kellam thanked his coaches for their help this season. And he praised his players.

"We're very proud of the boys," he said. "They've gone above and beyond my expectations."